[The chemical working environment among car painters in Bergen]

Official guidelines have been prepared for the working environment in Norwegian spraylacquering garages, in order to reduce the incidence of symptoms and diseases related to exposure to organic solvents. 11 garages were visited to see if the guidelines were being followed. All the sprayers (n = 28) were examined by questionnaire about the occurrence of acute symptoms connected to the central nervous system, the skin, the eyes and the airways during work, and about their use of personal protective equipment. All the garages had specially ventilated rooms for the lacquering procedure, and all the workers used personal respiratory protective equipment. The sprayers did not report more acute symptoms than a control group of office workers employed in the same companies.